Pitching helps Vestal win first state title since 1996

Vestal defeated Wantagh, 2-0, on Saturday to win the Class A state championship. It was Vestal's first state baseball title since 1996.
Matt Weinstein / staff video

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Vestal coach Tank Anderson and his players celebrate their 2017 Class A state championship after a 2-0 victory over Wantagh at NYSEG Stadium in Binghamton.(Photo: Matt Weinstein / Staff Photo)Buy Photo

Tank Anderson said he saw something change in his boys’ demeanor two weeks ago, when his Vestal baseball team won the Section 4 Class A title.

“These kids started believing in themselves as soon as we got past sectionals,” the coach said after Saturday's Class A state championship game at Binghamton's NYSEG Stadium. “Once that happened we just let ourselves go, let the talent take over and we played great baseball.”

Junior pitcher Dom Dirado threw a three-hit shutout and senior Pat Porter went 3-for-3 with the winning RBI as the Golden Bears defeated Section 8’s Wantagh, 2-0, to win the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class A crown.

The Golden Bears (17-7) won their second state title in baseball (the first came in 1996) and denied Wantagh (22-7) back-to-back championships.

“I’m just happy to do it for the seniors,” said Dirado, who struck out five and walked one in an 81-pitch outing. “They’re a great group of kids.

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Dirado’s shutout came a day after Golden Bears sophomore Kyle Taborne threw a complete game for a 7-0 state-semifinal victory over Whitesboro.

“These kids are tremendous, the way we came out at the end of the year and played baseball,” said Anderson. “For Kyle Taborne yesterday and Dom Dirado today, to do what they did, as a coach, you can’t have anything better than that.”

Both teams were scoreless through four innings. Vestal put runners on base in each of the first two innings, but Wantagh pitcher Brendan Hass got out of the jams by inducing double plays. Wantagh loaded the bases with two outs in the third before Dirado got Jimmy Joyce to pop out to end the threat.

Vestal used a two-out rally in the fifth to take the lead. Connor Harding started with a single to center field, moved to second on a balk and scored when Porter singled to center.

“The pitcher balked because he saw (Harding) going on first movement,” Anderson said. “The way Dom Dirado was throwing today, we obviously felt really good and then we get the insurance run on top of that.”

Junior Owen Dando hit a one-out triple in the bottom of the sixth inning, then scored on an single by Ben Coscia to give the Golden Bears a 2-0 lead.

Dirado allowed one hit over the final four innings, capped by 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh. Hass struck out two and walked none but allowed two runs on nine hits.

Harding and Coscia each finished 2-for-3 for Vestal, which won best-of-3 Section 4 Class A championship series against Maine-Endwell, two games to one, to qualify for the state tournament.

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Players and coaches on the Vestal baseball team celebrate their state championship after a 2-0 victory over Wantagh on Saturday at NYSEG Stadium in Binghamton.(Photo: Matt Weinstein / staff photo)

“Our pitching is always fantastic and with that comes great defense,” said Porter. “Combined, it’s helped us win a lot of games. We knew the bats were going to come around, it was just a matter of when.

“I just know we’re state champions. That was the goal from day one and we did it.”